The present invention relates to furniture glides. Several different types of glides are commonly available. The present invention also relates in a unique way to modular seating which is often ganged together by some type of mechanical interconnecting means.
The hard plastic glide is commonly used on chairs. Its hard plastic surface engages the floor and allows a chair to be slid over the floor. Yet, it tends not to scratch or mar the floor. Some type of fastener is joined to the hard plastic member to facilitate its securance to an article of furniture.
Soft rubber glides are used primarily for desks or other articles of furniture which are to be permanently located. A rubber member typically projects from a metal shell which in turn includes a screw post projecting upwardly therefrom which facilitates securance of the glide to a desk leg or the like. The soft rubber is a high friction material and minimizes sliding of the article.
A third type of glide is a variation of the hard plastic glide and comprises a hard surface defined by a rounded metal member. Typically, the metal member is chrome plated. The advantage of such a member over a hard plastic is that it has less tendency to pick up sand and grit and thereby become abrasive.
The present invention also relates to modular seating which normally has to be ganged together by some sort of ganging means. I conceived of using soft, high friction glides on such an article of seating to replace the ganging means. It was thought that the high friction glides would prevent the various articles of modular seating from moving relative to one another, thereby eliminating the need for some sort of mechanical ganging device for interconnecting the units.
However, the soft rubber glides typically used on desks are not suitable for articles of seating. Compression of the soft rubber or sliding wear on the soft rubber caused by even unintentional sliding would tend to result in the sharp edges of the metal shell gouging the floor surface.
Purchasers of furniture usually specify one or the other of the above glides or else settle for whatever particular type of glide the manufacturer has offered. When purchasing modular seating for ganging purposes, the manufacturer must provide some sort of mechanical ganging device. The concept of using a friction glide in place of a ganging means has not heretofore been conceived of to my knowledge.